Holiday commercials already? NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Um, really? I just saw a Christmas commercial and it’s not even Halloween yet! What is wrong with this picture? Do we really need to have the upcoming holiday season shoved down our throats like this before we even have a chance to enjoy the one we are at? Also, I was out shopping yesterday and what did I see? Christmas decorations on the shelves. Oh hellz no. It’s almost as if the big name department stores are so desperate to suck the money out of our wallets that they need to play mind control games on us to make sure we are conditioned to spend spend spend! Hello, let’s not forget about Thankgiving! Personally, I don’t even want to think about the major shopping holiday coming up before I enjoy engorging myself on delicious turkey and stuffing. We still have 58 more days dammit! That’s almost two months away. I feel as if we are being bent over by old Saint Nick and Santa is having his way with us! HO-HO-HO!

Another thing that really pisses me off are that most all the stores are open on the major holidays now. Whatever happened to giving these hard working people the day off? The holidays used to be about spending time with family and friends. Years ago almost everything was closed. People used to use these days to relax and enjoy life a bit. This country has become all about the almighty dollar so much that even on Thanksgiving people have to work since these chain stores are so greedy they can’t fathom staying closed one day. Don’t even get me started on Black Friday. Another hellz no. Sure, there are some good sales going on that day but you won’t find me anywhere near those stores in that nightmare of human shopping orgy. Not worth it for me just to save a few bucks. I’ll enjoy my four day weekend by not going near a Walmart, Macy’s, Target, etc, and dealing with all the suburbo-trash parents and their bratty kids that seem to pile into these stores on these days. Nope, sorry, that is just cray to me!

Now, we have Cyber Monday which has become another big shopping day for those who absolutely hate actually going into the stores to shop no matter what day it is. I am on the fence about this one. I’m the type that still likes to see and feel the product in person when shopping for gifts. There is just something a bit impersonal about doing all my holiday shopping on the net. It’s hard to judge the quality when buying off a website at times. Yet, I have bought things off websites that turned out pretty well. Also, what else does everyone do at work on this day? Surely not work! I think people would go into panic mode if all our employers across the country blocked access to every store and Cyber Monday sales site on that day. Damn, people might have to wait until they get home at night to shop online for that ugly sweater or useless gift!

All in all, I guess we have no choice anymore. Too much of our economy nowadays is reliant upon buying useless crap that doesn’t even last that long. It’s all disposable. We hardly make anything here in the states anymore as we have gone from an industrialzed nation to a service based and consumerized country. The nation’s brand name stores rely on the major holidays to help hit their botton lines and generate big sales numbers. Like the zombies we see on The Walking Dead we are attacted to all the noise generated by the annoying commercials, print ads, and crazy sales that are thrown at us. It is just starting and will get worse over these next few months. Heck, I even saw a Santa on the city streets yesterday!

Don’t get me wrong as I do enjoy the holidays, and Christmas is still a favorite. I like decorating the place, handing out gifts, having fun walking around NYC and seeing everything all decked out for the season. There is nothing like Christmas in NYC. It’s the one time of year I see people behave a little nicer to each other. There is a feeling of optimism and consideration among the hustle and bustle going on each day here.

Yet, when I see Christmas sales commercials on tv in October I feel like this……

No way to seeing Santa already. I saw the first Halloween candy before school started. Then I was in Sears about two weeks ago and they had out the trees, light, & stuffed animals. I don’t have anything against it either but I do like to enjoy one season at a time. I just want falling leaves and done nice weather right now. We received our first holiday toy book junk mail yesterday.

Haha This is spot on!
We’ve been selling Christmas stuff for at least the past fortnight alongside the Halloween stuff. It’s madness. I know alot of people who have already done all their shopping AND wrapping. Far to early.
This black friday and cyber monday stuff is a step too far too I reckon – obviously it’s awesome to get some bargins but the crazyness, especially of black friday, just doesnt appeal to me.

I seriously hate feeling like the season is being rushed. I don’t know about anyone else but I have every intention of enjoying Halloween this week and then starting to look towards Thanksgiving once Halloween’s over.

I swear I was seeing Christmas commercials at the end of August. AUGUST! But I have to tell you, I’m totally in the Christmas mode right now. Having a big family to shop for, I have to start early. So I feel like there’s an excuse for these commercials showing up early. They catch the crazies like me who are already out Christmas shopping! But it does take some of the joy leading up to the holiday season. I miss the end of the Thanksgiving Day Parade signaling the official start of the Christmas season. It was such a big thing to look forward to as a kid, and even still as an adult. Oh, and although I do start shopping early, I will NEVER shop Black Friday late night sales. Family comes first.

So, it wasn’t a figment of my over-active imagination! I did see Santa and decorated Christmas trees in Home Depot yesterday.

One thing I found admirable about the Canadians (aka *Occupants of the Land of the U Hogs*) is that they close on major holidays. I discovered this through chats with my bestie in Canada when she commented she wouldn’t be able to shop the following day b/c it was a holiday. It was not a Christmas/Thanksgiving/News Years day Major. It was something comparable to our Memorial or LaboUr or Independence days.

[* They get to use humoUr and rumoUr. We don’t. They hog all the U’s* ]

I went into Dollar General for pull-ups for the granddaughter and they had Christmas out already. Last week I think it was. Seems as soon as they pull summer stock the Christmas goes out.

My teen daughter was worried what to get me. I told her make me a coffee mug. That has expanded to getting a dozen plain ones. Did you know if you write on them with indelible markers and bake them 30 minutes at 350 it’s permanent? Even dishwasher safe (need to test that part.) now she’s making all the adults personalized mugs. Who doesn’t drink coffee right?

I always feel so sorry about the people who has to work during holidays. It’s really unnecessary to keep the stores open, when everybody should be home spending time with their friends and family.
Though, NYC is amazing at Christmas time (I think you’re even a little kinder to the lost and confused tourists at that time of the year). I wish i could go again this December, but as it looks like right now, I will not be visiting NYC until 2014.

I could not agree more with everything that you said in this post…..down here in TX there have been decorations up in the big craft stores for a good month. It is just ridiculous!!!! To me, it takes some of the excitement out of the holiday for us to barraged with decorations almost three months before the holiday….STOP THE INSANITY!!!!

genuine LOL’s over here, Phil. You are so right. I hate feeling like a holiday is being shoved down my throat! (that photo of Santa saying calm the fuck down is killin’ me! had to pin it on my funny bloggers board!) Christmas is exploding in stores here in Texas, too, and it feels obnoxious. Stay in your own fucking month, dude, you have December!
BTW – New York is magic at Christmas. Been there 2x for it and I can still see the lights at Rockefeller Center, and the angels, and…sigh….nothing like it. Pure magic.

A friend of mine sent me a picture from Macy’s October 2nd, of a Christmas tree set up already. October 2nd! F U Macy’s! If we can’t stop the December holiday madness, can we at least make a bigger deal out of Halloween?? Can we get the big box stores to rally for a Halloween present exchange maybe? Halloween is awesome. Thanksgiving is awesome. Let’s bask in the glow of candy and over-eating, for frick’s sake!
I’m with you on stores being closed on holidays. People should be with their families, or at bars drinking away their sorrows ABOUT their families, just as nature intended.

It’s crazy when the Christmas stuff comes out before Halloween. I’m blaming it on the fact that the first night of Chanukah falls on Thanksgiving this year. This supposedly happens every 70,000 years or something. So, obviously it’s some bizarre space time continuum thing that’s got retailers confused. 🙂

I just saw my first commercial the other day for Christmas goods. It was a Best Buy commercial. I love the holiday season and I love spending money as much as the next red blooded American, but I’m not about celebrating Christmas before I finish eating my candy corn…

Hi Phil, it is not as bad as you make out. Here in the UK the promotions for Christmas begin straight after the back to school frenzy. Admittedly Halloween is growing in popularity here now although it didn’t used to be that way when I was a child.

Here is a shock for you, I’m sure that the other week when I was in the supermarket I started seeing some Easter eggs! I kid you not.

As for the US not making things anymore, it is not as bad as you think. I work for the Head Office of UK listed company. Over half of our turnover is from North America and our factories there.

I REALLY wish that kid flipping the bird in the last photo was me! I agree with you – let us enjoy Halloween and Thanksgiving before Christmasing us to death (although, I’m absolutely cray when it comes to that holiday – full disclosure).

Agreed. Out here in upstate N.Y. some stores have already ditched the Halloween stuff to sell things for Christmas now. Halloween hasn’t even started yet, it makes no sense to sell Christmas stuff now. They just can’t wait, ugh.

I seriously never saw the point in Black Friday. I worked in retail in the past (and never will again because of the experiences I had!) and was forced to work on Black Friday because that’s apparently how they do things in retail jail and it was just excruciating to watch people trample one another for crap they didn’t really need! But yeah, I was actually down at Walmart last night and saw they’re already replacing the Halloween section with Christmas… it’s not even Halloween until tomorrow AND it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, for frig sake! Stop and Shop already got rid of their Halloween display. It saddens me.

This post came at the perfect time! I can’t stand how we get here with xmas propaganda this time of year. It gives me unnecessary anxiety. I refuse to participate in Black Friday and I don’t care about Cyber Monday. My boyfriend is a manager of a store and just told me that he may have to work at 8pm on Thanksgiving, which pisses me off to no end. I don’t get why people buy into this stuff. Have you ever seen the family guy ep when Stewie and Brian go to find Santa and hear the “Christmas is killing us” song? I think that pretty much sums it up.

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This blog is just a regular guy's view of life, food, cocktails, fitness, and fun.

This blog is just a regular guy's view of life, food, cocktails, fitness, and fun. My opinions, musings, observations, rantings, ravings, foodie adventures, and overall humorous pontification of life in NYC.